The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-08-24
AMAZONIAN 'PIT~BROWS'
MASCULINE-CLAD WOMEN WHO
WORK AT COAL MINES.
A Delegation ofTwcnty-Five Women
Marching to the Parliament
Buildings-A Life of Drudpery.

A Delegation ofTwcnty-FiveW Women
Marching to the Parliament
Buildings-A Life of Drudgery.
Among the thousand and one strange,
unique and interesting sights that may
be seen in the streets Of the metropolis
of the English Empire from time to time
none has attracted more universal atten.
tion than that of the curiously- clad dele
cation of "Pit-Brow women that passed
up the fashionable promenades to Parla-
ment buildings a short time since, bent
not on sentiment nor sensation, but on
bread and business IN everyday strug
gle for an honest existence, of which
their almost masculine costume is only
illustrative and component part grow
ing out of the exigencies Of their toll, for
which they are thankful and by no means
responsible, writes Charles +. Kincaid
from Lancashire England, to the Louis
vile Times.
These women, married or single, TO
the number of ten thousand, work at the
overground openings of the coal mines,
and hence their designation of 'plt-
brow" They are mostly seen in the
"black district" or coal region of Eng
land, and Lancashire claims the largest
share.
The occasion of the pilgrimage of
these wonderfully garbed "girls" to the
Parliamentary side of Westminster was a
bill introduced in the House of Commons
prohibiting their employment at the
open-air mouths of the immense coal
mines that honeycomb many counties of
England and South Wales.
When the ''pit-brow women got wind
of this merciless measure pending before
Parliament, which was to throw them
upon the cold charity of the world, they
organized an intelligent, good-looking
committee among themselves, two dozen
strong, and marched straightway to the
House of Commons to argue their plain
cause, nevertheless one involving head
raiment and roof for perhaps thirty thou
sand human beings Their duties are to
screen the coal, push the trucks from the
over-earth openings of the deep pits, and
the shifting and direction of the great
baskets. Their work is not dainty nor
free from dirt, but it is claimed, and
truthfully no doubt, that it is far health
ier and more agreeable than the starving
tasks in the close confines of the cheap
paying manufactures of the cities.
The Government officer in charge of
the bill denominated their costume as
"more Bulgarian than British, and it is
certainly not designed for the "Queen's
drawing-room receptions. 1t was in
/ vented out of the necessities of the situa
/ ton, where trains and bustles and even
long skirts would be call vanity and
/ vcXation of spirit" As it is, the dress
they have adopted, and to which they
have for years, if not generations, beer
accustomed, is cleanlier, less in the way
and more comfortable than any they
could don, unless it would be the mascu
line attire altogether la DIR. Mary
Walker.
The wages of these women run from
thirty. six to sixty cents day in Ameri
can money, while in mills they only re
ceived from $1.2j to So per week. Ii
the mills some of the girls walked 3, 00t
miles year at the rate of $2.20 pc
week.
One girl interviewed said ~ mus
work. Father was i'll for two and hal
years, and l kept him, and mother anC
an orphan girl and myself, and but fo
me the old folks would have had to q
on the parish" Another said 81 All
thirty-six, and have been working at on,
colliery for twenty-onc years. | KEEP
mother ten years after father died ant
have not had bottle of medicine al
the time l have house of my own be
sides"
A girl of twenty-five said she had been
in the pit-brow for seven years and had
supported a father, mother and two sis
tiers for twelve months while her father
was out of work.
A married woman said: 81 have foul
children and have been at work five
years; but the last six months befor,
baby was born / knocked off work anC
remained at home until he was thre,
months old, and I've never felt a bit
worse. l am now looking out for jol
along the pit-brow for my tifteen-year
old girl; I'd liefer she was there than il
mill"
1t is unnecessary to add that thest
hard working, honest women were sue
cessful in their mission, and Legislation
on this subject has been "staved OFF, 70
some years to cOme-perhaps permanent
ly.
The wage-wOmen Of America, whC
think they have hard life, may ponde
with profit this feature Of their sisters
struggles on the other side of the Allan
tic-labor in which they are exposed
, most of the time to the elements, to sa
- nothing Of its severity and begriminl
effects.